378 
SUN KISH. 
inertly on its side. Tt is then approached by the fishermen 
■without alarming it; hut if roused it will put forth strenuous 
ell'orts to escape. In one instance, when laid hold of with a 
gaff, it e.\erted itself so powerfully as but for an accidental 
hindrance to have drawn a strong man overboard, and the 
hooked instrument was carried off as the fish dived into the 
depth. The escape, however, is usually along the surface, and 
often with swiftness, so that in a case of which I was informed, 
a rowing-boat was not able to overtake it. But it is not 
always, and perhaps not often that they are so fortunate as to 
escape; and when laid hold of it has been often observed that 
they have uttered sounds which in some instances have been 
described as like strong and anxious breathing, while other 
fishermen have compared them to the loud grunting of a hog, 
a circumstance which is also mentioned by Lacepede. When 
the eye is touched, and it has been said, when it is onlv 
threatened, the ball is drawn backward into the socket, while 
the mass of cellular membrane that lies at the bottom rises up 
and covers it. This withdrawal of the eyeball has also been 
noticed by Lacepede, and is effected by a special organization of 
muscles fitted to the purpose. A fisherman gave me information 
of one which he had taken and kept in his own boat for 
half an hour, after which he threw it again into the sea, and 
then, to his sui-prise, it darted away, as he said, with the 
swiftness of an arrow. 
The food of the Sunfish appears to be diversified. I have 
learned from William Thompson, Esq., of Weymouth, that a 
young example, eighteen inches long, was caught with a line 
in whiffing off the coast of Jersey. On one occasion seaiveed 
was found in the stomach, in another fragments of coralline; 
and Dr. Cams remarks of one he saw in the Scilly Islands, 
that it had a barnacle in its mouth; but commonly, however, 
we find only mucus in the stomach. In England no use has 
been made of this fish, except that from its singular shape it 
is sometimes exhibited for show. As food it is not thought 
of; but a gentleman accustomed to the sea informed me that 
in the Mediterranean he procured a portion of a large one 
to be cooked for his table, and he thought it good, in taste 
much like the common crab. 
The Sunfish reaches to a large size, and the largest I have 
